Instancing is where the “Game World” separates your group from the rest of the players. You see this in WoW and Warhammer:Online when you enter, say a dungeon to complete a quest and only your group is there.

GW does the opposite. The entire “world” is instanced and only points where all players for your server can interact together are the “social points” like cities. I tend to like that I can interact with any player anytime in the world (WoW, WH:O) and that only the important stuff is reserved for my group. With an “instanced world” the only way to invite people to group is at the “social points” so you can’t just pick someone up on the fly.

They do this to keep the processing needs down and thereby keep costs down. Instancing requires less processing because they don’t have to render all the players random actions. They only have to render the PvE monster’s pre-determined actions which they can keep ready in RAM for a smoother experience.

Michael2024: Yes, you cannot join someone mid game, you have to meet them in a town/city etc.

Instancing hasen't been too much of a problem for me. You can PM anyone who is on your Friends list while they are in the middle of a mission and can meet somewhere afterwards. So if I'm in the middle of a mission/quest someone can PM me and ask for help at which point, I can quit the mission or tell them to wait for me in a city and once I'm done I just meet them there.

For me that really detracts from the whole MMO appeal though. I mean the whole concept of MMO’ing is to group with as many people as you can (preferably friends you actually know) to crush those quests. GW is the antithesis of this and is really just a glorified RPG that just happens to throw some grouping in after the fact.

That’s one of the things I love about Warhammer:Online especially. You can start with a small group and recruit a huge warband (think of it as a temporary guild) for the Realm-v-Realm stuff and the quests. It’s a lot of fun.

I know what you mean. Two words... TIME DUMP. I’ve all but sworn off MMO’s for now because I have a toddler that is more important. That means I can’t even consider gaming until he’s in bed. I want something I can get into and out of without having to worry about my character or getting to an “Inn”. Or, doesn’t take 4 hours out of my day to feel like I accomplished something game-wise.

I do like the concepts in GW as far as characters and visuals. Especially the necro/summoner which has been my biggest disappointment with every MMO. What storyline has ever had the necro summoning a SINGLE undead/demon. None. Necromancers are supposed summon hordes not individuals and if it is an individual, it’s supposed to be a bad-ass individual (a la Balrog). It’s a great paradigm I hope to see actual MMO’s bring to the table.

well there are so many free mmo's out there. I do like guild wars its something that no matter when you put it down its easy to pick back up and play again.

I am still stuck in Aion right now still an NCSoft game but it is a 15 buck a month job. The world just feels so much bigger in most of the pay for games. But i still pull out guild wars and have fun with friends.

Hubby and I *MIGHT* be picking this up... anyone still playing the original GW? We aren't sure if we'll stick with the original and EotN (for cost and time reasons) or if we'll go for the Hall of Monument stuff for GW2 and get the whole shebang.

Hubby and I *MIGHT* be picking this up... anyone still playing the original GW? We aren't sure if we'll stick with the original and EotN (for cost and time reasons) or if we'll go for the Hall of Monument stuff for GW2 and get the whole shebang.

Wife and I still play GW1. We both have 35/50 which gives you all the goodies. If you want 50/50 you can but that just give you titles.

I am an active GW1 player still as well, you can look me up as Inappropriate Names (story behind the name: Years ago we're talking like 2005 around the original release, My character's name was flagged for being an Inappropriate Name, So I donn'd the title)

I also own my own personal Mumble server that I let others use for voice comms.

So I had a Trial account a while back and had access to the Prophesies campaign.

My account now has Prophesies, Nightfall, and Factions. I guess the "Trilogy" includes those three? And the Eye of the North is accessed from any of the campaigns, rather than being a campaign itself?

And if I finish up one campaign, do I need to create a new character to do the other campaigns?

And (finally?) if I make a character in one campaign (for the different professions) and my husband does the same for a different campaign, can we adventure together and complete both campaigns, or are we "stuck" in that campaign until we've completed it?

So I had a Trial account a while back and had access to the Prophesies campaign.

My account now has Prophesies, Nightfall, and Factions. I guess the "Trilogy" includes those three? And the Eye of the North is accessed from any of the campaigns, rather than being a campaign itself?

And if I finish up one campaign, do I need to create a new character to do the other campaigns?

And (finally?) if I make a character in one campaign (for the different professions) and my husband does the same for a different campaign, can we adventure together and complete both campaigns, or are we "stuck" in that campaign until we've completed it?

You can do all campaigns with one Character which will give you titles such as cartographer and vanquisher etc..

I would recommend you both start from the same campaign, otherwise it could be a long path before you meet each other.